I have several questions?

[Chamillonaire]

in the process of setting up my cage for the Ambilobe Chameleon. I have several questions? Is it good for me to use the powersun light or the the UVB and a heat lamps? What wattage should I use for the heat lamp or the powersun light? I have the 24x24x48 cage... What is the best misting system to use and what do I use to collect the excess moisture? Also what is the recommended plant cause I would like to use a silk plant due to the bugs that the live plants carry.

 

[jannb]

You need this UVB bulb......you can buy your fixture at WalMart or Home Depot. http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog...por-bulbs/-/zoo-med-36-repti-sun-50-uvb-bulb/

For a bashing light use a regular (not coil) household bulb....about 60 watt...to keep it in the mid 80's for basking. Buy a clamp on fixture for this bulb at WalMart or Home Depot.

My daughter really like her Mist King and Marty gives expert advice here on the froms if you ever have a question.

You will need a drainage pan or bucket under the cage to collect the water.

Your cham needs a live plant. Pothos or Ficus is excellent!

You will also need thes three supplement to dust your feeders: 1st, 3rd and 5th one. http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/reptile-supplies/vitamins-medicines-and-cage-cleaners/

Don't forget to gutload your feeders with plenty of fruits and veggies before feeding.

How old is your cham?

 

[hallenhe]

Hi; welcome! A linear UVB (e.g. Reptisun 5.0) with an incandescent lamp for heat (both off at night) is probably the easiest and cheapest. Some compact fluorescent UVBs have caused blindness so they're generally avoided. A mercury vapor, like Powersun, provides both heat and UVB (that's what I have, in fact), but runs something like $60 a bulb and provides pretty high heat, so you'd need to rig something so the light would be above - not resting on - the cage. If going linear UVB + incandescent, 60 watts for the incandescent is common, and this can be just an ordinary lightbulb. If you go the Powersun route, I use a 100W.
If you want to be really fancy, you can go with a MistKing for watering; nobody really seems to like the HabbaMist. For one chameleon, that seems a bit overkill to me; a dripper on top of the cage that drips throughout the day, coupled with misting once or twice a day (depending on your humidity; it's getting dry in Michigan as the furness comes on) should be good. I had a live plant under the water dripper; the plant pot caught the water it didn't slop around.
Real plants are much better than silk; they help keep humidity up, for one thing. Pothos, schefflera (umbrella plant), ficus and hibiscus are chameleon-safe (they may munch plants on occasion). Unless you know you've got organic grown, wash the plant off, repot it in fresh soil (to prevent carry-over of pesticides), and (organic or not) cover the soil with something like river rocks so the cham can't accidentally ingest the soil. Sounds like more work than it actually is. Some artificial vines (like ZooMed bendy vines; there are other brands as well) and sticks give him something to climb around on.
Hope this helps, and welcome to chameleons!

 

[Chamillonaire]

he is 11 months old.... thanks to the both of you for the helpful information